Down for the Count Up, 10

PICTURE THIS AGAIN, OCTOBER 3, 2016

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I found them. I found them in the last place I looked, which would have been amusing like the long-standing joke, except I wasn’t amused. I was done.

During my weeks of frantic searching, I found myself revisiting the same places.  When I didn’t find what I’d been looking for in any of the obvious places, I logically made a firm list, of course.

I won’t bore you with all the details, although there were some things that bear mentioning. I rediscovered reams of specialty papers, printable stickers, printable window clings, printable fabric, printable shrink-dinks, printable business cards and a complicated foldy-card thing that I’m not even sure I would ever attempt again.

As exciting as all that was, once I’d been through my list, re-searched all the places I’d searched before and more, I set it aside and let my eyes leak a little. Not just once, either, but when there’s nothing you can do, there’s nothing you can do.

Early Saturday morning, I took myself on a 3-mile walk. I came home exhausted, weepy and probably a little low in the sugar department.  Chomping a nectarine, I headed for a shower and fell apart.

The pictures had become a hangnail part of my life I just couldn’t properly trim off.

To be honest, writing this blog has been hard. I’d been avoiding truly crying for weeks; the overwhelmed, sobbing kind. But, the time had come and I gave in, voicing aloud what I’d been thinking so long.

“God, I need help.’ I choked. “I don’t want it to be ten years. I don’t want it to be any years!”

It took a bit to get myself together and decide I was being stupid. I figured I might as well seal this episode up and do what I had to do.

I needed to move some things from one location to another, so I did.

Halfway through that, there they were.

I didn’t recognize what it was at first. Randomly fanning/flipping through a few pages, I finally focused enough to figure it out.

I had been looking for a mailing envelope or one of those green marbley-looking cheap sleeves they used to give way back when you ordered actual picture prints by standing at a counter and filling out awkward envelopes.

Chronically arranged, in a sleeved booklet I had apparently decided need to be fancied up with scrapbook paper, was my lost capsule.

I wonder at the timing, wonder how I could not remember what I did.

Wondering. Just wondering.

Joyously sharing them with you now.

Thanks for helping me through this year of memories.

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That’ll Be Easy (A Crafter’s Saga, 2)

First – the fabric stash.

Some of my well-traveled fabric has moved every time I have in the last 30 years, along with the books and writings and art supplies and chickens.

Yes, that’s right, I have antique (lol) fabrics, most with permanent fold marks.

(Only because I don’t own an iron, or an ironing board. A garment steamer has been on my ‘someday’ list for about 10 years now. But, you know how that goes… hot water heater, A/C, new interior doors pending and long over-due garbage disposal replacement – since I ground glass with the current one.)

I guess you could say I’ve been more of save-it-for-the- right-time collector, than an avid user for quite a while. I tend to stock-pile fall-ish hues. Patterned; reflecting the warm, calming colors of autumn. About 75 % can be accounted for in this category. The other rows are neon, old filmy curtains, and Christmas. And chickens.

By the most amazing stroke of luck, the perfect Nashville yard and a half was waiting for me exactly where it should have been.

Crafters will empathize with me on this. There are a lot of “Well, that’s where it’s supposed to be… ” moments, searching for an obscure item which we know we have and have been saving for the appropriate purpose. There’s a lot of self-questioning that comes with being creative. Like the, “If I were me, where’d I’da put it?” that comes out of my mouth. Often.

But, never mind that. The re-organization gremlins were apparently COVID-quarantining and there it was: right in the brown section, toward the darker end. That was easy.

Tools are always an important choice. I could scissor my way straight through the fibers or pink in jagged edges. I could rotary-cut along a metal rule. Or, I could take out that over 15-year-old, Singer Electric Rotary Cutter my husband gifted me. Which, 1. I never used in his presence and 2. vaguely remember a short-lived attempt at mastery. Once.

Yep, I’ll go that way. That’ll be easy.

The manual was vague, but I kept referring to it and eventually, tightened the tension and got set. Illogically, on the coffee table, in front of the couch. Maneuvering was awkward because I had to hunch from the couch and step on the pedal and keep the fabric feeding. A table would have been a better location, but mine was in the basement and I had assembled and carried all of the necessary paraphernalia up from the basement, so I was gonna make it work.

It worked. Badly.

Warbling foot-pressure speed, misguiding and failure to keep a straight line, resulted in messy, uneven, thread-warped swatches. So, I slid off the couch to the floor and tried again. Pretzeled with one leg up to apply pedal push and one under tingling uncomfortably. Success escaped me. Again.

I tried to scissor-trim the scraps into shape, leaving me with slightly skewed, ill-fitted measurements. I caved.

Manual rotary blade. One swipe later, I declared the treasured fabric non-cooperative and trucked down to the basement to find a better idea. The inspiration genies were smiling down on me as I pulled the Michigan acquired, grid-patterned, auburn packet from the vertical fabric file.

Lines to follow!

Ok, yeah. That’ll be easy.

Quote for the week:

Furnished, Part 1

For two people in their mid-thirties, neither Jeff nor I had a lot of anything.

I had my first-ever moving sale when I left temporarily Tennessee. It took three trips back and forth from Michigan, stuffing my Volkswagen Golf to the gills with books, and music and chickens. Not live ones; paraphernalia.

My first Michigan apartment furnishings were either free, flea or followed me. Free is self-explanatory. Flea is a bit of a poetic reference to garage sales, flea markets and second-hand stores. Only two items followed me from Tennessee.

I moved a hand-made wooden rocking chair purchased at a yard sale, and a coverta-table. Also hand-made and wooden, the table top swiveled up easily converting it into a chair. There was also a nifty little storage area in the bench for linens.

Both chairs had hand-carved and wood-burned sheaves of wheat. I didn’t think about that detail much back then. All I knew was I like the motif, had purchased them at separate times, and they sort of matched. A year later, in Michigan, I found a close-out entertaiment center with sheaves of wheat to match. I briefly acknowledged that with a fleeting thought of “Hm, what a coincidence.”

Among my early Michigan acquisitions were a second-hand orange and brown plaid couch and a second-hand matching orange velvet chair that were stashed in an empty office where I worked. A wood coffee table that needed some balancing help and an old used-to-be-white dresser and mirror came next.

I painted the dresser a yellowish-white to match the yellowed laminate top, then added a few burnt orange accents. I happily accepted a compliment when the previous owner exclaimed, “If I’d known it could look like that, I might not have given it away.”

I purchased an old wood-boxed TV that must have weighed about 100 pounds. Trying to corner roll that into my new apartment building, lead to meeting the neighbor who would later introduce me to online dating.

I also acquired an old copper dry sink, an old three-tiered wooden sewing basket, and a beautiful piece of stained glass art.

Of all those first run belongings, only three remain. The dry sink sits just inside the door of my current home. It’s where I set my work bag down when I get home, and where I pick it up from in the morning.

The sewing box serves a dual purpose as an end table in the living room. The stained glass rainbow hangs over the bureau in my bedroom.

I guess you could say I don’t hang on to much furniture.

Quote for the Week:

 

 

Enjoy This Week’s Discovery Links:

Why DO We: Keep It

What To Do With: Sentimental Pieces

On the Other Hand: Minimalize

 

It Was Supposed to Go Like This, Part 2

We got through that part, and we got through the next part, too.

Then, prematurely and over-enthusiastically (probably due to the nature of his state, which didn’t even seem to be in Michigan), the guy who was supposed to be marrying us announced in Jeff’s direction, “You may kiss the bride!”

By now Jeff had significant rows of scowling creases on his forehead. He also had the where-with-all to stop that nonsense in its track by not-so stage whispering, “The rings! The. Rings!”

We got through that part.

One of the funniest professional photos in my official wedding album is the one where the best man and the matron of honor are assembled to sign as witnesses to the marriage. There’s my sister-in-law not looking pleased, holding out her hand, demanding the pen from Dr. Dinglefritz in a “Give. Me. The Pen.” gesture. My brother is earnestly leaning forward, balancing on 3 fingers deliberately placed on the table. Our best man seems unsure, which is well warranted.

When we left the festivities that evening, we weren’t even sure we were really married.

When the marriage certificate arrived, I was relieved to note it was indeed valid

Jeff just shrugged and said, “See? I told you everything would work out.” Then, added “Wort.”

Quote for the Week:

 

 

Bonus: It Was Supposed to Go Like This:

JEFFREY SCOTT KORTE & JODI ANN SELIN WEDDING, OCTOBER 1, 2001

Opening Words by Minister:

Good afternoon, let me please introduce myself, I am DR (sic) Dinglefritz, I am an ordained minister and it is my pleasure to incorporate the beliefs of both JEFF KORTE and JODI ANN SELIN in the wedding service and to thank you for honoring them with your presence today.  Thank you for the friendship and support that you have given them in the past.  Their wedding today will be a moment when all our thoughts are turned toward love and joy.

Prayers:

Minister:      God, our hearts are overflowing with happiness on this special day–JEFF and JODI’s wedding day.  Thank you for bringing them together and for directing them every step of the way as they made their marriage plans.  Thank you also for these their friends who have come to celebrate these moments with them.

Bless their marriage and the home that they are establishing

together.  Help them to continue to grow in their love for each other. Make them thoughtful and understanding helpmates and companions.  Guide them and walk beside them during all their days together as husband and wife.

Giving in Marriage:

Minister:

Who presents this woman to be married to this man? (Response from Bride’s father) “Her mother and I do.” (This part was silent, but there was waving.)

Minister: Today’s reading chosen by the Bride and Groom; Eskimo love song

You are my husband/you are my wife,

My feet shall run because of you. My feet, dance because of you.

My heart shall beat because of you.

My eyes, see because of you.

My mind thinks because of you.

And I shall love because of you.

 

Vows:  (This was the Give. Me. The Book. part)

GROOM     Will you, JODI, take my hand and explore with me the limitless wonders of this world?

BRIDE       I will.

BRIDE      JEFF, will you promise to share with me your own discoveries and new perspectives on life?

GROOM     I will.  Will you work with me to broaden our horizons continually and expand the boundaries or our lives?

BRIDE      I will. Will you live with me to the fullest, for all the days we share?

GROOM     I will.  Then I, JEFF, offer to you, JODI, all that I am, all that I may encounter, and all that I may become.  I will always offer to you support, friendship, and peace. Let us explore together the infinity of our love from this day forward.

BRIDE              I, JODI, question no part of your commitment, recognize no darkness that we cannot vanquish with open hearts, and accept you as my partner above all others.  I pledge before this company to love and cherish you forever as my husband in acknowledgment of the miracle of us.

RESPONSE READING

I come to you pure of heart and sound of mind.  From this day forward we will walk in peace, live by God’s word, and trust in his blessings.  If these include the joy of children, we will raise them in His sight and under His hand.

Wedding song: “In this Life…”

Lighting of the Candles:

Minister: We now come to the lighting of the Candles of Unity. We ask that the mother’s of both the Bride and Groom light the two smaller candles representing the individual lives of the Bride and Groom. They then pass them to their son and daughter.

JODI and JEFF in lighting the Unity candle you signify to yourselves and to the whole world that the two of you will forever be as one.

Minister:  At this time we welcome the new bride’s brother, to assist in the breaking of the glass ceremony.

BROTHER OF THE BRIDE: It is my pleasure to bring to you the symbolic Breaking of the Glass The shattering glass reminds us that even at the height of personal joy, it is our duty to recall the sadness and tragedy in the world around us. The glass is shattered with the implication that the marriage shall always remain intact.

Jeff, I present this glass to you with  joy.

Jodi and Jeff may your marriage be as strong and complete as it would be difficult to unshatter this symbolic glass

RING EXCHANGE

Minister: May I have the rings, please?

Minister:  JODI and JEFF, may your love be as eternal as the unbroken infinity of the rings you are about to exchange.

GROOM     With this ring, I thee, wed.

BRIDE        And, with this ring, I thee, wed.

Minister: At this time it is my pleasure by the authority of the Universal Life Church of the State of California and the laws of the State of Michigan to pronounce you husband and wife.

You may kiss the Bride

Ladies and Gentlemen may I present to you: MR and MRS JEFF KORTE

 

 

LA Bound

The ad said weddings, graduations, reunions, so we went to take a look.

The LA Café in Adrian wasn’t a very happening spot, but we didn’t know that.

We did know it would hold over the 150 guests we expected, and would allow us to bring in our own catering and decorations.

It also turned out to be a little dicey when, two weeks before our wedding, a fight broke out one evening and arrests were  made.

We chose not to share that with our parents, mostly because we were getting married in the afternoon, had the place to ourselves, knew every person who was going to be there, and were pretty sure there wasn’t going to be any fighting which would escalate into arrests.

We mainly chose not to share because there wasn’t another venue, and we feared there might be an insistence to delay our wedding for a more appropriate place.

Because LA Cafe was primarily a bar, that service would have to be utilized, required. That made sense – especially since one of their regular bartenders would be in charge of the bar.  The fee for the room was reasonable. The fee for the bartender was reasonable. The recommended DJ’s fee was also reasonable, and all were available for the date we preferred. That clenched it.

It was determined the caterer would bring plain white place settings, silverware, cups, and glasses. Jeff and I shopped the dollar store for gold and black napkins, cake plates and streamers. We happened across 16 black, metal, 5-armed, scrolled candle holders perfect for center-pieces, and an amazingly large number of candle sticks in white and gold. Table décor – check!

Music? A friend gifted me 2 CD’s of background instrumental wedding music for dinner ambiance. I suggested a Colin Raye song lyric for our plain and simple entwined heart invitation. Jeff loved the idea.

The wording of the song lyric brought a protest from my mother, who felt we should substitute “was” with “am.” I felt strongly we should keep it as it was written, never imagining how that one word would make such a big difference. I’m very glad I did it my way for many reasons.

It was a beautiful song for the beginning of our married lives together, but it wasn’t quite right for our first dance.  We kept our ears open for current songs, scoured our CD and tape collections, tossed ideas back and forth. Coming up with a “set list” for all of the obligatory dances – Mother/Son, Father/Daughter, Parents, Wedding Party was easy. We filled that with songs we loved, but weren’t quite “the song” we were looking for.

Sweet favors were our next goal. We thought about the regular sort-of-boring little boxes or tulle bags of Jordan Almonds, and considered the (at the time) rather expensive option of custom black and gold M&M’s.

Poking around for something special on internet paid off when Jeff determined he had found the perfect thing.

Quote for the Week:

Enjoy This Week’s Discovery Links:

In this Life, I was Loved by You: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCVo_69Gv4w

Custom M&M’s:  (there’s a 20% off sale going on!) https://www.mymms.com/category/shop+by+celebration/wedding.do?gclid=CLb6lrjuhc0CFYwkgQodDvQOnQ –

Bulk Ordering: https://www.dollartree.com/